Curtis Sittenfeld

Pure silly fun, with a heaping helping of unsettling insecurity. TNO (The Night Owls, standing in for SNL - Saturday Night Live) writer Sally, who is a sarcastic feminist warrior, is undone by the sweet and gorgeous host and musical guest Noah. She's got no interest in relationships, though hers, including a starter marriage, ended badly but not in complete disaster, so it's a bit hard to see why she's so unnerved by the possibility of sparks flying. She's got a bunch of really tight friends on the show and the first part of the book is just chock full of hilarity as Noah's week progresses. But Sally lashes out at Noah at the after-after party, and then covid intervenes, as Sally tries her hardest to blow up any chance of a love life with the infinitely patient Noah. As usual, as the tension moves towards resolution, the story loses a bit of luster. Overall, the audio version is nine hours of pleasure - but for women only.… (more)

(53) This is a quickly read novel from an author I love especially 'Prep,' and 'Rodham.' This had less gravitas than those novels and felt lighter. It was one of the first novels I read though that was mostly set during Covid quarantine so reliving the 'magic' from that fabulous time of life was fun. Even celebrities were sick or went to Target in masks to buy random shit. This is about a writer for loosely disguised Saturday Night Live who falls in love with one of the celebrity hosts. She herself is smart and funny but 'plain.' and while plain men can marry hot celebrity women all the time, it just doesn't happen the other way around. In fact, she is writing a sketch about that very concept for the episode where she meets him. So the whole thing is a bit predictable as the title implies and the book never tries to be more than that (while simultaneously giving an ironic nod to the whole affair. )

While easy to read and funny in parts, I think in the end quite forgettable. I really didn't buy Noah and Sally's relationship - although Sittenfeld is typically an excellent writer, there was something missing here. The best characters by far were Jerry and Sugar. This book was more like the 'book-club" pick of 'Sisterlland' - fun and accessible but not nearly the best she can do. Almost a nostalgic ode to 2020 which is weird.… (more)